Year Ender: Controversies that rocked sports world in 2016

New Delhi: Though the world of sports has seen brilliant performances by many persons and teams over the year, controversies played their part to mar sports persons and officials. Narsingh Yadav controversy The entire Indian wrestling fraternity was stunned when Narsingh Yadav failed a dope test just 10 days before the Rio Olympics in August. The 28-year-old grappler was tested positive for Methadienone – an anabolic steroid which triggers muscle growth. Narsingh denied any consumption of such illegal substance. He claimed that his food was tampered with anabolic substance, making him a victim of sabotage. However, Narsingh wrestled to Rio after National Anti-Doping Agency handed him clean sheet but its prime governing body World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) denied participation and banned the wrestler for 4 years. Narsingh Yadav won a bronze medal in 2015 in World Championship, eventually earning a quota for India in 74kg category free style Wrestling. BCCI vs Lodha panel A committee made by the Supreme Court and an autonomous cricketing body of India, have been in a continuous state of disagreement from way back in 2015. The Lodha panel was formed by the Supreme Court of India for transparent functioning of cricket in the country. The panel had put down some recommendations for the BCCI to implement over certain period of time. Recommendations by the Lodha panel include:

• BCCI official cannot be a Government minister
• BCCI should not hold the office for more than two years.
• Proposal of one state one vote.
• BCCI office bearer can work not more than two cintinous terms.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) implememnted some of the recommendations but didn’t accept recommendation which are considered as key by the panel. BCCI’s failure to accept suggestion has created tussle between the committee and the independent cricket body and adversely affected cricket in the country. Sania Mirza/Rohan Bopanna vs Leander Paes: Indian ace Sania Mirza was paired up Rohan Bopanna to represent India at the Rio Olympics. The duo reached the semi-final stage before going down in the bronze medal match, eventually finished fourth. Questioning the team selection process, Leander Paes said,” I can very clearly say that in this Olympics and the last Olympics we didn't put the best team forward. This Olympics the mixed doubles was a great opportunity. What more does a man need to do than win four Grand Slams in 14 months," Paes said referring to his successful mixed doubles run in early part of 2016. Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna publicly slammed Paes for his comments. The duo took micro blogging site Twitter to express their anger. Rohan Bopanna had written a letter to AITA, requesting to be paired with much lower ranked Saketh Myneni in Mens’s doubles event at the Rio Olympics . However, AITA rejected his request and Bopanna was paired with Leander Paes. Lionel Messi Tax fraud: Barcelona star Lionel Messi was handed 21-months jail sentence for tax Evasion. However, under Spanish law a jail sentence under two years for a first-time non-violent crime can be served on probation, which meant the star strike was unlikely to spend time in jail. A Barcelona court found Lionel Messi and his father Jeorge Messi guilty of three counts of tax fraud. The court ordered Messi to pay a fine of around £1.7m and his father to pay £1.27m. The pair was accused of using tax havens in Uruguay and Belize to hide more than £3m in earnings from image rights from the Spanish tax authorities. Maharashtra state vs IPL: Just before than opening clash between Mumbai Indians and Pune Supergiants in the 10^th version of the Indian Premier League-the Maharshtra drought bowled a googly at the cash rich T20 extravaganza. The Bombay High Court ordered shifting of 13 matches to other states due to water scarcity in Maharashtra. 13 matches were scheduled to be played after 30^th April in three different locations which included Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune and Vidharbha Stadium in Nagpur.